Supreme Court Declines Embryonic Stem Cell Case

Supreme Court Declines Embryonic Stem Cell Case

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to hear a case about the Obama administration's funding of embryonic stem cell research, thereby allowing the continued use of taxpayer dollars for studies that require the destruction of human embryos, Baptist Press reports. Two scientists have been challenging the funding, saying the Obama administration's policy violates the 1996 Dickey-Wicker Amendment, which bars federal funds for "research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death." The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in August upheld a federal judge's dismissal of a legal challenge to Obama's 2009 executive order that overturned a more restrictive funding policy under President George W. Bush and allowed continued funding for research on stem cells derived from embryos created by in vitro fertilization. "Americans should not be forced to pay for experiments that destroy human life, have produced no real-world treatments, and violate federal law -- especially in burdened fiscal times like these," said Steven H. Aden, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, which helped litigate the case against the Obama administration.